‘Who’s talking s**t?’: Ben Simmons’ Nets teammates confront heckler over sledge

Ben Simmons Brooklyn Nets teammates have come to the Aussies' defence after a cowardly heckler sledged the NBA veteran.

Ben Simmons' teammates confront a heckler on his behalf. Photo: Tik Tok

Ben Simmons’ teammates have come to his defence after a heckler called the Aussie “trash” after Brooklyn’s loss to Orlando on Saturday (Australian time).

The Nets suffered a second straight loss to start the season, with Simmons adding just seven points, six rebounds and three assists as well as a block in the 116-101 loss to the Magic.

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While the 28-year-old Aussie has copped flak throughout his career, he is on the return from injuries that have restricted him to just 59 games — including just 15 last season — in what is now his third season for the franchise.

It’s expected to be another tough year for the Nets, with the team’s roster considered among the worst in the NBA.

But the scenes after the Magic game may give fans of the franchise some hope after Simmons’ teammates rushed to his defence.

As the team returned to the locker room, a fan yelled out “you’re trash” to Simmons, but only when he was well past the youngster.

Simmons replied: “Why didn’t you say it when I was there p***y?” before seemingly heading to the locker room.

But the situation wasn’t done there as Simmons’ teammate Dennis Schroder came out of the rooms to confront the fan who took aim at the Aussie.

“Who’s talking s**t to Ben?” Schroder said.

With other players still pausing on their way back to the rooms after seeing the fired up Shroder, the 31-year-old began jawing with the heckler, before a man social media claimed was his dad joined the fray.

The situation was ultimately defused by security with other fans filming the events.

One was heard saying: “This is going on ESPN.”

Another fan said: “Way to ruin it for everyone”.

The NetsDaily X account tweeted: “Told by a witness that what p**sed off Schroder and other Nets players was that the fan waited till Simmons was 10 steps beyond him before calling him trash.”

Ben Simmons was sledged. Photo: Tik Tok

Schroder was fuming. Photo: Tik Tok

The scenes got heated. Photo: Tik Tok

The Nets went into bat for Simmons. Photo: Tik Tok

Simmons, who was a three-time All-Star earlier in his career while at the Philadelphia 76ers, has particularly struggled since his infamous meltdown in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals in 2021 when he passed instead of taking a wide open dunk.

Simmons has also long drawn criticism because of his unwillingness to shoot three pointers and aversion to heading to the free throw line.

In his seven-year career, Simmons has scored just five times from beyond the arc — attempting the shot just twice without success since he’s been in Brooklyn.

He’s also a career 59 per cent free throw shooter — most NBA players are between 70 and 80 per cent.

However, he is also on the final season of his five year $US177m ($A268m) contract where Spotrac reports he will be on $US40,338,144 ($A61m) this season.

Speaking before the season to the New York Post, Simmons responded to critics who claimed he was stealing money from the Nets.

“People make comments saying I’m robbing. No,” said Simmons.

“When I got that contract, I was playing at a super high level. Unfortunately, I had injuries. But for somebody to say that, it’s disrespectful.

“People can say what they want to say. They’ve got to live with it. At the end of the day it all catches up with you.”

Ben Simmons’ teammates have his back. Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images

At Brooklyn, Simmons averages 6.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.1 steals and 0.6 blocks — all well down from his career averages.

Nets coach Jordi Fernandez revealed he keeps telling Simmons to “drive to the rim and be aggressive”.

“That’s what the team needs from him, and that’s what his teammates want him to do,” Fernández said via ClutchPoints’ Erik Slater.

“I want those attempts to go up to 10 to 15 attempts per game. I don’t want him to drive to pass.”

Simmons went two from five against the Magic, while he went three from four in the season opener against the Atlanta Hawks.